Together
by halfbloodMarauderX
Summary: A couple of shots I imagine from House of Hades. Focus mainly on Percy and Annabeth. Don't read if you haven't finished TMOA and don't like spoilers. Rated K for now but I can't be sure as it progresses. fandom copyright goes to Rick Riordan. Image copyright goes to burdge bug.
1. I: ANNABETH

ANNABETH

and then he let go.

And they fell into the darkness. She could imagine Nico's pale face as he tries to digest what Percy just did, Hazel's shock when she reaches the ladder and turns around to find Nico reaching hopelessly at the edge, Leo, Jason, Piper and Frank - when they come down to tell them the statue is secure and find no one...

and Percy.

He disappeared in the dark, but she feel his hand clamped around her wrist like stone.  
_You're not getting away from me. Never again.  
_She could tell she was pulling him down headfirst, she herself pulled down by Arachne. His free hand somehow found her, pulling her closer...  
_Never again._  
She wished it didn't have to be said that way, when you know you have no hope. It would have been nice if they managed to get back on the Argo II and that's when he said it. But demigods don't live fairytales. Quite the opposite, in fact. But if only

...and before they made it to each other, she blacked out.

* * *

Annabeth woke up on the mossy floor in somewhere dark. The air smelled thin and fumy. There wasn't any source of light, although there were very very dim, gray blotches floating around. She could barely make out the outline of the wall facing her. She tried to sit up, but something was bound around her, pinning her arms, and the more she strained to get out the tighter it wrapped around her.

"Hey."

Annabeth jerked at the familiar voice and realised that it was actually Percy holding her in his arms. She turned around, but all she could see was the dark outline of his hair. And, if she squinted, his face.

Percy brushed her fringe out of her face. "You'll get used to the lighting, soon enough. Also, I found a couple of your stuff."

He pulled out - thankfully - her emergency supplies: dry snacks, water bottle (though two thirds empty, "I can't call the sea from here, it's too far"), nectar and ambrosia, and Daedalus' laptop ("Your knife's stuck in the card slot by the way, so I guess we'll have to survive without credit cards from now on.") from behind him. Annabeth realised they were slumped against another stone wall.

Something scuttled pass them in the darkness, and Annabeth whipped towards the sound so suddenly, she strained her injured ankle. Only slightly, but it still twinged.

"Whoa. Careful." Percy said, adjusting himself such that she was now leaning back on the wall and he was free to move. He gently adjusted her foot. "I gave you some nectar while you were unconscious, but life food doesn't work like it is down here now that everybody's, um, supposedly dead," he said.

Of course. Tartarus. Deepest depths of the underworld, where only the dead go. Until Nico. Then now, them.

Suddenly, Annabeth had this sinking feeling that she had dragged Percy into this. He could have let her go. Hung on until Jason or Frank picked him up. Saved at least himself. But he didn't. He chose to hold on to her. _You're not getting away from me. Never again. _It was his choice. But Annabeth somehow felt that she had something to do with it.

They were trapped way below the Underworld. And Percy didn't deserve this.

"I'm sorry," she said, voice faltering, not daring to look at him, now her eyes were adjusting to the light (she could make out his entire silhouette bent over her foot).

He turned to face her. Probably because she could sense his eyes burning into the top of her head. Finally, he said, "It's not your fault."

The fact that he sounded so sure of it made Annabeth even guiltier. Of course everything was her fault. If she didn't have to 'walk alone', everyone could have just quickly cooperated, saved Nico and get the Athena Parthenos all on time. And then Percy wouldn't have to end up here. Accordingly, the Doors of Death had to be closed from both sides, meaning someone had to stay inside Tartarus. She knew when the time came Percy would have insisted on her going through to the other side. That's his problem. Athena said it herself. _"Personal loyalty. One day your fatal flaw might kill us all." _She didn't know how he quest could go on without him. Then again - it was her who dragged him down here. Maybe she could have done better to make him let go. Slippery slope, but the quest would fail thanks to her.

Percy must had been up for quite a while, because he could see her eyes welling up with tears and pulled her close to him. "Hey," he consoled, "Hey. It's okay."

She buried her face in his chest and opened the floodgates. Percy was gently stroking her head. He must have read her mind as well, because after a while, he added in a whisper, "No one blames you." Which just made it worse. Her tears had drenched his shirt, but he made no effort to keep dry, which Annabeth couldn't decide was good or bad and she just cried harder. He hugged her tighter, leaning his head down on hers, and for a moment his lips brushed the top of her forehead, jolting and yet calming her down.


	2. II: JASON

Hey guys, so technically this is right after the previous chapter. I'm sorry about the grammatical mistakes in the previous one and i hope this has less. Enjoy!  
-hbMx

* * *

JASON

Jason felt useless. Even more useless than he told Piper during their picnic. While he flew around with Frank securing the Athena Parthenos he felt as if he had finally helped. And then -BAM- look down and two people have disappeared. They had saved the statue - the quest had succeeded, by technical means. But they lost two of their number. Percy and Annabeth. While Hazel and Nico were holding on for dear life onto the end of the ladder. And he never realised.

Besides, he had told them he'd come back anyway.

Piper had tried to talk him into forgiving himself (after giving up on persuading him that it wasn't his fault). Either she didn't have the heart to pull her charmspeak on him, or it really WAS his fault. Leo was stabilizing the Argo II and sending out ropes. Frank was making a good job securing the ropes. Jason? His fingers fumbled to tie good knots and arrange the ropes. In fact, he even suspected that if he hadn't been so clumsy with the knots, Frank and Leo could secure the statue faster and saved Percy and Annabeth.

So much for being a hero. Even Piper could have charmspoken Arachne into letting her thread go.

"Jason."

Speak of the girlfriend.

"Have you seen my knife anywhere?" Piper asked.

"You mean Katropis? No, why – listen, Piper, stop looking into it for its visions, it's not helping us knowing anything," Jason told her. "Last time we tried to make use of it I almost –"

_Killed Percy_. Even when Jason stopped himself, Piper knew how the sentence finished.

Piper suddenly thought her plaid (which was beautifully perfect, by the way) needed retying, and Jason decided the scenery was very nice.

"I'm not trying to look into it," she said after a few awkward moments. "I just can't find it."

"Oh. Sorry," he said apologetically. He didn't want to think about the time they tried following visions from Piper's knife. In fact, Jason would throw Katropis overboard if he could get his hands on it, except that it would leave Piper weaponless and probably kill some poor animal or person down below.

Trying to be helpful, he asked, "I'll look for it. When did you last see it?"

Piper shrugged. "I can't remember…"

He tried to pull his best 'Don't worry' smile, which probably wasn't very assuring because he had a dozen worries himself.

Jason headed below deck, trying to retrace Piper's footsteps around the Argo II, which seemed suspiciously a little too spacious the interior for its already massive size. He remembered her using it when they went back to search the rubble for Percy and Annabeth, and he was sure he'd seen it at dinner (when nobody ate anything) that night. Then this morning she threatened to run him through when he moped in bed and refused to get up. That was the last time. _Better than nowhere…_ he thought.

Jason entered his room and did a quick scan. No Katropis. He checked the bathroom and under the bed. He ran through his laundry pile (for a praetor, Jason always had bad household skills, leaving his bunk messy and untidy, although nobody saw it) and upturned his unmade bed. Nope. Nothing.

"Aww, come on!" he said, tossing his exclusive copy of _Valdez's Guide to the ArgoII_ over his shoulder.

_Clang_.

Jason turned. A triangular blade peeked out from beneath the guide. Suddenly feeling a bit guilty, Jason dropped to the floor and picked up the knife. The blade gleamed under the light and his reflection rippled. Despite himself, Jason kept staring into the blade.

He saw a room, empty, but Roman weapons and armor were stocked in one corner. The image zoomed in to the table and showed him a map. There were illegible notes and arrows written all over – Octavian's writing, no doubt. Jason's eyes raked the paper for any clue as to what the Romans were planning. One red circle marked out Southeastern New York and Long Island. Jason did a double take. He checked the notations around the circle.

"LEO!"

Jason yelled, sprinting from the room like a madman.

"LEO! LEO VALDEZ!"

He barreled into Leo's room and found it empty. Where was that guy?

"LEO VALDEZ!"

He raced back up the corridor and promptly crashed into the Supreme Commander.

"Dude, chill. And watch that knife."

"Turn around," Jason said, panting. "Turn around, go back to camp."

Leo's eyes widened like tennis balls. "Man, are you mad? I want to live my life, and don't intend to commit suicide anytime soon."

Jason could have smacked him for joking right there. "Not Jupiter. Camp Half-Blood," he said hastily. "They're closing in."

He had not finished his sentence when Leo shut his mouth and whipped out two game consoles. His fingers flew over the controls and Jason instantly felt the ship changing course. Hazel stumbled out of the main lounge and ran for her room, hand clamped over her mouth.

Leo faced Jason, and for once, his face was grim. "Send a message to camp." He ran for the deck.

Jason raced to the mini kitchen beside the dining room. He turned on the nearest light, flicked the tap and shove a spoon under the running water. The stream richoted off the smooth, curved surface and formed a thin fountain, reflecting the light in a spectrum. He fished a drachma from his pocket.

"O Iris, accept my offering!"

The rainbow shimmered.

"Camp Half-Blood!"

A view of the cabins came up in front of him. He saw campers running around and scanned for someone he knew. In the left of the Iris image, the doors to Cabin Eight opened.

"Thalia!" he yelled.

Her head snapped in his direction. "Jason!"

She ran over and stood in front of her side of the Iris message. "Jason, what's going on? I heard the Romans are angered. The Hunters were called to help guard camp – didn't even have time for the traditional Capture the Flag – what's going on?" She said all of this very fast. Somewhat like Rachel Dare the Oracle.

"They're going to attack," Jason panted. "They've already located Camp to be somewhere around where it is. They don't have the location but they're getting close. And they will attack. I've seen their formation plans."

Thalia nodded grimly, not asking how he knew all this. Unfortunately, she asked, "Where's Annabeth?"

Jason swallowed. He knew Thalia and Annabeth's story. He tossed around trying to find the right way to break it to her.

"She…well, fell…got pulled, into," – he gulped – "Tartarus." The last word had to be choked out. "Percy tried to save her and…"

Thalia's expression was unreadable. She opened her mouth, but suddenly the air behind her shimmered and another Iris message popped up.

"Oh gods, Thalia!" the woman in the new IM gasped. She sounded as if she had tried to get through many times. "Any news about Percy? I can't get through to Annabeth! What's going on?"

Thalia chewed her lip and stepped aside, looking at Jason as if to say I think you'd better answer this. In the near background, Jason got a clear view of the other IM-er. He had never seen her before, except that her expression was exactly the same as Percy's when he fretted about Annabeth.

Jason's throat went dry. The woman looked from Thalia to him, finally settling on him. Jason mustered his courage and looked her in the eye. "Hi Miss Jackson…"


	3. III: HAZEL

K guys.  
looks like I built up more than i intended. I didn't mean to bring out the fact that percy hasn't seen his mom for like eight months, just wanted some angst, but I think you guys did some really in-depth interpretation so I'll go with that. Though, i really didn't know how to write Jason breaking the news, so here goes:

* * *

HAZEL

Hazel heard the crying. She knew that Percy had left some people behind for months but she hadn't really considered Percy's mom. Maybe because she also thought Percy or Annabeth would have contacted Sally Jackson. Then again they were rather rushed for the quest.

She had also heard the screaming. She didn't know what it was all about yet, but it had to be bad because Jason went beserk. She had the sneaking suspicion it had to do with the Roman's progression, because instead of scouting around for materials the Argo II had shifted course and stayed that way.

Later that day Piper had been talking about it and apparently Annabeth was also very close to her boyfriend's mom.

She could not figure out how Jason managed to pull it off, but Leo told her he said it anyway. Percy had not seen his mom for about eight months now and could possibly never see her again.

_That's not true_, she scolded himself. _How will the Prophecy of Seven be fulfilled without him? And Annabeth?_

_Maybe it's part of the prophecy_, a small part of her mind nagged back. _Maybe it was meant to happen._

"No," she told himself firmly. Now wasn't the time to be pessimistic.

But it was disturbing. **An oath to keep with a final breath**. Could the oath have been any of theirs? She knew how strong the bond between Percy and Annabeth was. According to Coach Hedge's depressed mumbling, they had 'shared quest' before and it was 'sad' they 'shared quest' again only to fall. Sounded like this wasn't the first time the couple ran into a prophecy.

Another thing bugging her was Leo. Awkward enough he was her so-called "ex-boyfriend's" great-grandson; she got the impression that he and Frank were somehow razing for her. And then he also blamed himself for Percy and Annabeth's fall. He had broken the cookie. Nemesis had warned of a price. He saved Hazel and Frank…for Percy and Annabeth.

If that were so then Hazel felt it would have been better to let the supposedly already 'dead' go, rather than threaten two more lives. The only mortals she knew of who made it out of Tartarus alive was Nico. And he was a son of Pl – no – Hades. _And_ the Giants caught him and needed him out of Tartarus anyway.

But Percy and Annabeth? It sounded as if they would be killed.

Hazel retched – partially from the idea of what would happen to the two, and partially from her seasickness. She stumbled to the kitchen to scrounge for something to throw up in (she had used all her spare thrash bags and puking down the toilet left a smell hanging). The boat was eerily quiet except for the humming of the engine. Even Coach Hedge the hyper-violent faun, no, satyr (damn this Roman-Greek thing was irritating!) was too upset to sing his military songs.

The only person who was closest to being upbeat (meaning having at least something to make up for) was, ironically, Leo. No surprise, that guy could do anything as long as it was crazy. As Hazel stumbled past his room, she peeked through his slightly ajar door and saw him examining all sorts of scrolls and messy sphere diagrams while listening to some song on a mini smartphone-like thing he had randomly constructed. Jason had mentioned that if demigods were ranked by ADHD level then Leo would be king of demigods. She thought it was an exaggeration then, but was starting to get the point.

The Argo II lurched, hitting a patch of turbulence and she bent over, half-expecting to throw up. Fortunately, she managed to make it all the way to the kitchen groped about for something. Finally she found a small pail and threw up. Her seasickness was getting worse, especially since…

Still queasy, but feeling slightly relieved, Hazel scrubbed out the pail. Her stomach felt empty. She had vomited all of her last meal. Why couldn't she conjure up tidbits and snacks instead of cursed gems? Wait, even if she did, her seasickness somehow blocked this weird 'ability' of hers, so it was pointless.

Bent double, clutching her stomach, she made her way back to her room and threw herself on the bed. Nothing to do, she might as well sleep the hunger (and hopefully seasickness) off. Flopping over on her bed, she closed her eyes and drifted off.

She shouldn't have. Having just gotten over her blackouts and so on, Hazel had to remind herself that demigods still had weird, creepy dreams. For now she was napping, so it was not as scary as what she heard of, but it was bad enough. She was on the deck of the Argo II, which was hovering over a patch of strawberry farms and a large barn house and smaller sheds, located over a hill with a solitary tree.

Then the image rippled and she saw the strawberry farms still there, but the sheds looked like cabins and the barn house had changed… The shed-cabins also happened to be arranged in a particular formation, like a lowercase 'N' with two horizontal lines poking out, an omega Ω, if she was right. With a jolt, she realized this was the Greek demigod camp – Camp Half-blood. Campers spawned the area, donning their armor. A formation was already forming on the hillside and spilling into the valley below. On the other side of the hill, the unmistakable Roman legion was marching up towards the tree, which Hazel guessed marked the boundary.

Hazel had seen the legion battle, but she didn't dare picture what they were like at war. Annabeth had told her: "the spear was thrown". And Reyna said it herself.

Camp half-blood, on the other hand, despite being disadvantaged in number, looked as if they had fought major war before and were used to being the smaller party. They also appeared to be perfectly fine with on-the-go attacks. Perhaps that was their style, and if it was, Hazel hoped that the legion had not figured it out.

The legion stopped at the boundary and a figure – Octavian, no doubt – stepped up slowly. He extended his arm, dramatically inching towards the tree…and then past it. There was a moment's silence, then, although the dream had no sound effects, the legion let out a roar and charged.

Hazel did not see them clash with the Greeks, because at that time Leo decided to ring the dinner bell and wake her up.

* * *

There was supposed to be more, but i figured it would be too long. I'll add the extra part as a short chapter soon. Outline's in my head. but I'm sorry to say I'll be quite busy in the upcoming week, so it might take a while ):

cheers^^  
`hbMx


	4. III: HAZEL continued

Hey guys,  
this is the continuation of Chapter 3, still told from Hazel's POV. I've read your reviews and I'm glad you all like how the story is progressing. (:  
-hbMx

* * *

continued

The Argo II had stopped for now. Hazel was not sure if they were in air or on sea. Both felt the same to her.

Food was already served when she entered. The atmosphere was stony. Jason looked shaken. Piper, worried. Frank was fidgety and Hedge was sullen. The only one who seemed perfectly normal was Leo, bobbing to the beat of whatever he was listening to on his self-made mini smartphone. He looked up and saw Hazel, took out his wire earpieces and jabbed a button on a game console.

Festus growled and everyone jumped. Should have seen that coming. Leo did it before.

"Alright!" he said, with the air of making an announcement, "Now that we're all here, Supreme Commander has some good new and some bad news."

"The good news is that at this rate we should be able to reach camp before Camp Jason's Dad even figures out where it is."

Thunder boomed outside. They were in air.

"The bad news is if Leo doesn't watch his words we'll all be blasted out of the sky by 'Jason's Dad'," Jason chuckled, looking fazed but more comfortable.

"Well, yes and no," Leo said, grinning madly at the joke. "Expect to attacked as we near New York, and experiences with more non-Frank eagles might occur."

"My wild brethren, I suppose," Frank mumbled, mood also lightening up.

"Another thing is that Octavian and co might follow us to locate camp," Leo concluded.

"We need to throw them off," Piper said grimly.

Hazel thought about her dream and shuddered. Camp Half-Blood might have experience, but how long would their numbers hold up? Pop. A diamond nugget appeared on the spoon she was holding. She quickly stuffed it away before anyone noticed. She could almost hear Don the faun chiding her about not knowing the value of diamonds.

"Don," she said suddenly, realization dawning on her.

"Don?" Frank asked, scratching his head. "Hey – he talked to Percy the day he came to Camp Jupiter, right?"

"Yeah," Hazel confirmed, "and he said something…he said Percy…had 'an empathy link with a faun'. I guess he meant satyr, but –"

Coach Hedge suddenly cleared his voice, startling everyone. "Grover Underwood," he said. "Young upstart, searcher, finder of Pan, bringer of Panic, fought in Titan war, Council of Cloven Elders," he mumbled to his plate. Then he looked up and added, "Friend of Percy Jackson."

"He did have an empathy link with Grover."

Everyone turned. Nico had been so withdrawn and quiet since they found him, Hazel had been guilty of forgetting he was there. She had also forgotten that Nico was from Camp Half-Blood.

"Right, so lets just contact Grover whatshisname and tell him to gather all satyrs and whaddya call it? – ah, fauns, and cause some distraction et cetera and try to reach Percy with the link!" Leo said excitedly.

"IM at this hour?" Frank groaned. "Iris is probably still opening ROFL."

Everyone stared at him. He quickly explained their encounter with the rainbow goddess.

"No way," Jason said. "Did she seriously acronym her convenience store R.O.F.L.? I'm rolling on floor laughing."

"Well," Hazel spoke up, pulling a denari out of her pocket, "it Iris is busy then we have to go through other means."

Aware that everyone was staring at her awkwardly, Hazel held the water jug up to the light, allowing the rays to refract and form a rainbow. She tossed the denari. "O Fleecy, do me a solid, show me Grover Underwood the satyr."

There was a funny sound of cold air hitting a front, which she supposed was the cloud nymph's laughing. The rainbow clouded, and a nervous guy in a Rasta cap showed up.


	5. IV: ANNABETH

Yay! finally! Chapter 4! It's pretty long, and maybe a bit slow-paced /: Anyway, thanks for the continuous support guys! Hopefully I can update in a few days time! `hbMx

* * *

ANNABETH

Some part of Annabeth wished Hazel was here to guide her and Percy in the right direction to the Doors of Death. They had been wandering around aimlessly for at least three hours in Tartarus and getting nowhere. She also wished nectar and ambrosia could not blow you up, because Percy insisted on stopping every 15 minutes or so to not overstrain her healing ankle.

Tartarus it self was creepy, but stunning. The moss on the rock walls seemed to have an aesthetic purpose rather than simply hanging there. The matte rock wall surfaces glowed or shadowed nicely in the grayscale light Annabeth viewed it in.

The weirdest thing was they hadn't seen any monsters, Titans, giants or mythological spirit of any sort. They did come across a mass of spider silk that they stashed just in case. They also found Annabeth's backpack, which was a little rugged and fraying, but still in working condition.

They navigated around for another two hours or so, getting lost and walking in circles, eventually coming back to the web mass.

"Aw, come on," Percy whined. He grudgingly started collecting up the entire mass of web silk, compressing it together into the backpack's main compartment.

"Um, Percy," Annabeth asked, puzzled, as she too hesitantly collected up the mass, "What are you doing?"

She felt dumb asking.

"You tell me, Wise Girl."

"You're stashing Arachne's silk."

"Obviously," he said. She couldn't tell if he was smirking because his face was shadowed by a tangled clump of silk he was holding up to his face.

_And you're doing this…why?_ She wanted to probe. But she stopped herself. She was the child of Athena, the one who always made the plans, the one who always knew what she was doing. Not Percy.

"Well, let's just say the Frank and I both like storytelling," he said.

"You mean there's some Roman legend or something he just randomly told you about?" Annabeth asked, curios.

Percy chuckled, obviously enjoying his Moment Seaweed Brain Knew Something Annabeth Chase Did Not. "Nope, not Roman. Nothing to do with demigod at – well, maybe it IS demigod-related, but it is not known for that."

"Well, then what is it, Seaweed Brain?"

"You're the smart one, Wise Girl, _you_ tell _me_."

Percy Jackson, world's most irritating boyfriend, especially if you are supposed the one who gets all the 'A's.

Annabeth had to admit, he got her stumped. Wow, the guy who admitted he was dyslexic and ADHD and scoring an average of C- and D as if it didn't bother him, now eluded top scorer.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Percy said, "Oh seriously, what is Frank Zhang's last name?"

"Duh, you just said it – Zhang," Annabeth replied, still not getting the point.

"Yes, come on," Percy said, as if he had given her a big giveaway. "Keep thinking, Wise Girl…"

"Um…it's Chinese, right? Frank's Chinese by ethnicity…" she continued, straining for a solid conclusion.

"Yuuuuup," Percy confirmed, but still dragged the word as if there was more to it. "It's also quite ancient Chinese, I think." He abandoned the silk and tried writing the character for Zhang with some thin strands of moss.

"Uh, does this have anything to do with some old Chinese legend?"

Percy snapped his fingers. "Congratulations! Annabeth Chase, you have officially figured out what I'm trying to do! Well, actually, you haven't really figured that out, but it's pretty close, I guess."

"Dang it, Jackson, how do you expect me to know about some old Chinese legend?"

She tried to hit him, but he ducked and caught her wrist. "Tsk. Violence is not an answer in a relationship," he chided.

"Just shut up and tell me the legend before I show you violence." She had to restrain herself from adding, "And who said we were in a relationship?"

"Well, when we were waiting while Terminus interrogated the Argo II, Frank and I kinda got bored, and we were wondering how boring something could get, and he told me what he considered one of the most boring Chinese legends."

"Legends aren't boring," Annabeth cut in, just in case there were Chinese gods around that they didn't know of. One could never be sure.

"Well, it's one of the few without war and fighting, and he's a child of Ar – I mean Mars, so yeah. Anyway, it was about some silk weaver and a scholar, and a forbidden relationship. Well, you know how these stories end," he said.

"Happily ever after," Annabeth guessed.

"No, actually," Percy said casually, as if he hadn't tricked her. "They never get together, although accordingly, every year on a certain date, the birds form a bridge in the sky to let them meet each other – just once a year."

"Oh." Annabeth felt sorry for the couple. She could not imagine being only able to see Percy just once a year, even though he was sometimes in annoying prat. He was still sweet in a way. "But what has this got to do with silk, other than the weaver?" she asked before she got carried away.

"Frank said there was once his mother made him read a book. He couldn't, of course, being demigod and all, so eventually his mother read it to him. It was about some sibling pair that time travelled to ancient China, and got a ball of thread from that weaver. Later, they got lost, trapped or something. Then the thread just unrolled, but not in a straight line like it normally should, and instead it showed them the way out by unraveling."

Annabeth thought for a moment. The story did seem familiar, as if she had heard of something like that before, maybe read the book, but she could not put her finger on it. "I still don't see how…"

"Oh gods, Annabeth," Percy said, feigning desperation. "What Greek story does this remind you of?"

"The Labyrinth!" she exclaimed. Then she rounded on him. "Really, what was the point of telling me all that about Frank Zhang's Chinese legends and books built around them?"

Percy shrugged in reply. "That was how I got the idea."

"It's brilliant!" Annabeth admitted, hugging him in enthusiasm.

About ten minutes later, they set off again, with Percy carrying the silk that could not fit into the backpack, leaving a trail behind them.

Annabeth remembered her watch at 8.37pm of July 2. Percy decided to call it a day (or two, in fact), and they settled down against the rock wall. They had neared the edge of a clearing with large anthill shapes and boulders lying around. Annabeth was convinced it would look like a Zen rock garden in normal lighting. Even Tartarus had interior designing. Then again, the Gods had things like Skype and smartphones, so no surprise.

They shared a packet of biscuits between them. Percy tried summoning water from the moist in the air, but it was too thin.

Percy propped himself up against the wall with the backpack. Annabeth curled up next to him. It was turning cold, probably because night was falling in the outside world. She pulled her blanket over, then remembered she was in Tartarus – she had no blanket.

"Cold?" Percy asked.

She nodded.

"Want my shirt?"

She punched him.

He laughed lightly and pulled out a section of Arachne's silk. Annabeth pulled it cautiously over herself. It was thin and did not really help, but it was better than nothing. Percy pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her, huddling and sharing body warmth. Eventually, they fell asleep, cold, starved and exhausted.


	6. V: ANNABETH

ANNABETH

"Perrrrrrrrrrcy…"

Voices. But not monsters', like in other dreams.

"Perrrrrcccccccccaaaaaaaayyyy yyyyyyy…"

Annabeth could hear people whispering harshly. She could not tell who it was, but it sounded like somebody back at camp.

"That's bad, G-man, really bad."

Annabeth could have jumped in her sleep. That voice was so much nearer…and it was Percy's. And if it was Percy's, it meant that he was talking to Grover.

" – also – aged me to – said that your – ied. She misses you, dude. Baked – zen – ies for y – urn."

Grover's voice was static. Annabeth wished she could make out what he was saying. He sounded really forlorn.

"Awww man, I totally didn't contact her at all," Percy said, probably slapping his head. "I'm such a – argh!"

Guilt shot through her. In the months passing since she received the Athenian coin, Annabeth had completely forgotten about Sally Jackson.

"e – sn't blame – othin – ave don – with that Le – sed and all the usual st – on."

"Dang, why can't she just stay angry at me for once?" Percy moaned.

"'Cause sh – r mum, Perce. She loves y –"

Annabeth rather have het boyfriend's mother hate her than forgive her like this. It made her feel even worse.

"The o – heading towa – ock up on su – tha – atshisnam – eo, and the ot – lond one, uh, Jas – say they've fig – he Archim – ere's basics," Grover said, changing the subject.

_What?_ Archimedes Sphere? Did Leo actually…? Annabeth felt jealous. Why did she have to go on that Mark mission? She could have followed Leo and discovered some of Archimedes' secrets. His formulas could have helped with the architecture of redesigned Olympus.

"What's that sphere thingy?" Percy asked. Oh gods, why wasn't she in the conversation?

"I'm no – re myself," Grover replied. "But anyway, th – adding som – orth of whe – s are now, wh – osite of Ep – stimate they will r – in t –"

Percy took time to digest this. Finally, still sounding a little miserable, he said, "Should I wake Annabeth?"

Wake? Annabeth was caught off guard. How could she not be dreaming? Grover was not in Tartarus.

"Try to," Grover said surely. "It mi – ou good in – ure, with this major war coming up."

Annabeth heard the last line as if Percy was already trying to 'wake her up', whatever he meant.

"Focus on your conne – ings you've done tog – er."

It was going static again, as if Percy was losing focus. "But if anything happens to one of us, doesn't that mean…you know…"

"Jus – y, Per –" Grover said, slightly exasperated. "Besides, it will be the three of us again." He played a short phrase on his pipes which Annabeth recognized as the line 'We are all in this together' from some musical Leo sometimes played while working on the Argo II.

Visuals swam into her audio dream, bright white lights swirling with fire and colour, black spots bubbling up to the surface, swarming her dream. Finally, it slowed and settled, creating the image of Percy facing her with his eyes shut tight, concentrating very hard. She could only see him above the shoulders, as if they were communicating using webcam. Except that demigods could not use webcam.

Beyond Percy, another webcam image – Grover, against the backdrop of the campfire – looked over Percy's shoulder and said, "You can look now."

Percy and Grover filled Annabeth in on their earlier conversation that she had partially eavesdropped on. Annabeth noticed how Percy uneasily skimmed over the part about his mother to how the remaining demigods were heading to the France/Switzerland/Germany area to get supplies for the 'Archimedes sphere-inspired-all-new-ship-weapons' before moving to Epirus via Italy. That gave Percy and Annabeth about two weeks to find the Doors of Death. Meanwhile, Nico di Angelo would shadow travel back to Camp Half-Blood with some supplies as well.

"Remind them that it is not war," Annabeth said reluctantly. "We need the Roman camp on our side to beat Gaea and her forces."

"You need to be careful too," Grover said, chewing nervously on a tin can. "Gaea's forces will be after your blood. Literally."

"What do the dead need, blood donation?" Percy joked, earning Annabeth's dagger glare.

Behind Grover, a conch horn sounded. The satyr jumped around, startled, before turning back hesitantly.

"Go enjoy the campfire, Grover," Percy said. "I smell leftover enchiladas."

"O-ok," Grover said. "Take care alright?"

"All the way, G-man," Percy replied, his face set. Then he added, "Hey Grover, IM my mom, ok? Tell her…tell her I'm sorry."

Grover took one last sad look at his friends, before nodding grimly. Then the dream dissolved.

* * *

i hope one chapter to one single conversation wasn't too boring...  
anyway, disclaimer: i don't own HSM

`hbMx


	7. VI: FRANK

K, long time no see guys!  
Looooooooong chap coming up.

-hbMx

* * *

FRANK

"Good Morning, passengers aboard the Argo II, this is your Supreme Commander speaking," Leo Valdez's voice blared through the hidden loudspeakers and echoed in the ship corridor. "Our last night watch, Coach Hedge, said we're nearing the north border of Italy, land of the late lunch."

Frank sat up and groped blindly for his bedside clock. There was low light coming through the windows and he could hardly see through his heavy eyelids. Finally, his hand settled on his watch and he grabbed it instead. 6:40. Dang that overenthusiastic Valdez.

"We will be reaching Germany soon, so let's all get up earlier so that we'll be fresh once we hit our first stop!"

The speaker crackled and Frank caught a few off-tune notes of 'Deutschland' before it went silent. If Leo was serious – and judging by his excitement, he probably was – then breakfast would be served earlier. He changed into his tracksuit and hurried after Piper and Hazel to the mess hall.

"I still say we head straight back to Camp Half-Blood before Octavian goes crazy," Jason grumbled to Leo as they entered.

"There's no time," Nico spoke up from behind them. "We've discussed this already. You guys head to Epirus – I'll meet you guys back there after delivering the standby materials."

He regarded Frank, probably the first time he looked someone in the eye since… His dark eyes were like Chinese calligraphy ink, black, mysterious and probing. "If no one minds, I want to bring Hazel along. Someone has to talk to the Romans, someone from the same camp. And Hazel's the only other child of the Underworld," he reasoned. "I don't want to risk anyone non-Hades-or-Pluto-demigod during long-distance shadow travel."

He said, 'no one', but Frank knew he was directing it at him. He could understand Nico's needs. He was not fond of the idea, but he saw that it was necessary. He was a son of Mars, he knew what had to be done in war. He looked at Hazel. She gave a small nod. _I'll be ok_. He turned to Nico and nodded.

"Well planned, everyone," Leo cut in suddenly. From what Frank observed, he usually did not discuss about tactics, but was more the guy who worked on carrying them out (and getting them there). "Just one question: how do we return the Athena Parthenon?"

The question never got answered.

A beeping sound ticked loudly, like a bomb alarm in movies. Everyone jumped up, shocked. Everyone leapt out of their seats, alarmed. Even Coach Hedge had woken up and started yelling as he clopped along the corridor.

"STAY CALM! NOBODY TOUCH ANYTHING! VALDEZ LEAD EVERYONE TO WHEREVER TO EMERGENCY EXIT IS FAST! EVACUATE!"

"Not very calm, is he," Leo said in an unsurprised, drawling voice. Frank realised he was still sitting in his chair. He pulled out one of his remotes, which was beeping and flashing madly. Jason tensed, his eyes darting around as if eidolons were on board again. Leo casually pressed a button and gave Festus orders to shut off the German air alarm.

He turned to the others and grinned. "We're here."

After Piper finally charmspoke Coach Hedge out of combat mode, Leo landed the ArgoII in a thicket of tall trees in the "Berchtesgaden National Park" and argued with Piper over the pronunciation of 'Berchtesgaden'. Finally, Nico and Jason broke them up, and the six halfbloods dispatched: Hazel and Nico, Leo and Piper (somehow) scouting, Jason and Frank, watch the ship while the faun/satyr caught up on sleep.

Jason was still very tense since the 'bomb attack', but he forced a smile at Frank after sending Piper off.

The moment was awkward. He had never gotten the opportunity to talk to the guy get. Jason apparently felt the same, and they both stared weirdly at each other, waiting for the other to break the ice.

Frank felt uneasy with Jason staring at him like that, as if sizing up a recruit or opponent. Jason did not have to piercing eyes and death stare like Reyna, but behind his looser personality, he could have been worse.

Jason's eyes moved over to the bow and quiver strapped to Frank's back. "You seriously don't use a gladius?"

Frank shook his head. "Always preferred arrows. Chinese thing."

"Not even a long sword, like Hazel's spatha? I thought ancient Chinese armies liked long swords. Plus, you look like a combat man, not a long distance archer." Jason commented, still surprised.

"Ah, Reyna and Dakota mentioned that too," Frank assured him. He recalled all too well Dakota chiding him over weapon selection, unconsciously threatening to spill Kool-Aid on him. "But I've been using these since I can remember. Never thought of trying something else."

"Lucky you, then," Jason mused. "I think I broke about ten bowstrings, a spatha and a couple of regular swords before using a lance and a gladius."

"Lance?" Frank's eyebrows furrowed. He had never seen anyone use a lance at Camp Jupiter before. "What do you do, throw?"

He knew it was a stupid question as soon as he said it. Fortunately, Jason did not seem put-off. "It's…like a martial arts staff, in a way," he replied. "Imagine using a staff with a arrowhead tip as a sword. A really really long sword." He spread his arms out for effect.

Things took a good turn from there. Frank was shown the small training center in the second deck after Jason conferred with a stubborn Festus to alert them if anything cropped up. The training center was awesome. The ceiling was rather high for a room two decks below in a giant warship, and the room seemed too wide, but to Frank it hardly mattered. There were multiple walls and stations popping out from various places when requested.

Jason showed Frank some lance moves (dropping hints about him being a potential swordsman) and Frank helped him with the archery station. The son of Jupiter felt more comfortable with a crossbow, but his arms were too tensed from managing a sword to pull the bowstring. Fortunately, Frank noticed this before he snapped one of the only two crossbows there were. Jason fired, and missed the board altogether.

There were also javelins, which the boys figured could make a substitute for darts. Unsurprisingly, Frank got the hang of it fast. With his good archer's aim, he hit the target board most of the time, although he never got near the bull's eye. Jason was having fun making dents in the wall with the javelin butt when the ship vibrated violently, followed by a loud WUMP-THUMP!

Frank retrieved his bow and Jason had unsheathed his gladius (plus the guy was still holding a javelin). Together they darted up two steps at a time to the main deck.

Before he even reached the main deck Frank already almost got beheaded by a wild Nico di Angelo swinging his black sword like a madman. Luckily, Frank's reflexes kicked in and he dodged. Unfortunately, Jason thought he was under attack and threw the javelin, butt-first at Nico. Nico ducked, although even if he didn't the javelin would have missed anyway.

"Sorry!" he yelled, slashing at a blur of pale orange to no avail.

"Incoming!"

Jason yelled as something charged at him. He swung his gladius, barely scraping the tanned beige stomach of a giant hound. The great slate-colored dog turned and bared its canines, its bloodshot eyes looking past Jason at Nico.

"Guys?" Hazel yelled, while three boys stared frozen with intent at the hound. Frank whirled around. Across the deck Hazel was battling a physically normal albino fox. Frank described it as 'battling' because he could not tell if the fox was running or attacking, and he called it albino because its fur was a abnormally pale shade of orange, except for its tail, where the color was bright and saturated.

Hazel swung her spatha, the length of her sword giving her more reach and luck than Nico, but she still barely managed to scrap of the tip of its fur. Frank nocked two arrows as the fox turned, preparing to charge Hazel. It had not seemed to notice Frank. Hazel raised her sword. She brought it down the same time Frank fired, but the vixen, caught it half-leap, somehow managed to dive down a tight angle at the last minute.

"What is this?" He called in exasperation.

"Tuemessian vixen!" Nico answered somewhere behind him. "Decreed by Hera to never be captured! It was supposed to be turned to stone millenias ago, along with Laelaps here!"

"This dog has a name?" Jason asked dumbly, dodging the vixen, which had now turned on him. He tilted his head as Frank impaled another arrow in the wall firing at the fox. "It sounds familiar…"

"Zeus fated him to always catch its prey," Nico shouted as he sidestepped the hound, "Which happens to be us!" The flat edge of his Stygian iron sword slammed into the hound's hind, sending it tumbling off the ship altogether.

Hazel lunged at the fox again, which now seemed focused on only Jason. But could sense and avoid an attack from its surroundings. "Which one of us?" Hazel yelled as she lunged. The vixen turned sharply and pounced on her hand. She cried out and dropped her sword.

"Hazel!" Frank yelled. His mind was caught between finding the animals' weak spots and reaching Hazel.

"Catch!" Jason yelled, tossing his gladius at her. He grabbed the javelin and held it in front of him like a sword – a lance.

"I'm fine," Hazel muttered as Frank helped her get up. The bite wound on her wrist did not appear deep, but Frank would not assume that it was not poisonous. Hazel caught Jason's sword with her left hand. Back at Camp Jupiter, they would train with their other hand sometimes, but not often, and nobody took it seriously.

"DIE!"

Something metallic flew past Frank with stunning accuracy for Coach Hedge, barely missing the vixen. It whistled over and knocked out Laelaps, which had climbed back on deck unnoticed.

Nico and Jason were now trying to corner the vixen, which never fell for their traps. Jason's lips were moving continuously, as if praying to his patron to remove the decree. Juno was either to busy to hear him or was ignoring him. Frank fired rapidly, forcing the vixen to swerve change direction, nocking up to three arrows at a go. The others leapt around and tried to surround the vixen and take it by surprise, slashing and stabbing, Coach Hedge swinging his cudgel and yelling death threats.

"Gah!" Nico yelled as the vixen kicked him under the arm, grazing his skin and sending his sword skittering. Cursing death profanities Frank wished he'd forget, Nico rolled over to dodge the vixen. There was a flash of grey behind him.

"Nico – look out!" Jason yelled, and jumped in between the back-faced Nico and the charging hound. Then many things happened at once. Nico di Angelo lunged at his sword, grabbing it pointing downwards. In one quick flash, he stabbed backwards, killing Laelaps, who had pounced Jason, but hesitated to rip out his throat. Meanwhile, Jason had raised the javelin in defence, forcing the tuemessian vixen to veer in mid-jump and slam into Coach Hedge's cudgel. Frank plucked and arrow from the wall and shot the surprised vixen.

It was not sharp enough to kill, but the fox hissed, as if to say "I'll be back" and bounded off the deck.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Coach Hedge yelled. He pulled out his reed pipes and blew one sharp high note. The tuemessian vixen froze in midair before crashing to earth, the stone smashed into a dozen pieces.

"GO BACK TO BEING A ROCK!"

"Uh, Coach?" Jason called. "What's that fox thing and why does it hate me so much? I mean, it charges me every other attack."


	8. VII: JASON

hey guys! sorry it took so long, but i was overseas for a while, so sorry for keeping you waiting. I swear on the River Styx i will continue the story no matter what! `hbMx

* * *

JASON

If there was one thing about this quest - or just demigod life for that matter – that Jason was certain: being a child of Jupiter/Zeus sucks. You get extra super powers that make you more powerful than other demigods so when big prophecies come up, you get thrown in.

If there's one thing worse than that, it's if your name is Jason. Jason the Argonaut, hero and everything. With all those villains coming back from the dead, chances are they held a serious hatred against that name. Take Medea for instance. If Piper could not charmspeak, he would have killed Leo and doomed the prophecy.

Oh wait – it gets worse if you are a child of the sky god with his wife, Juno/Hera, as your patron. First of all, she is supposed to hate all his demigod children. Ironical, isn't it? Then, the two of them have done so much in the ancient times that earned them so much bad rep amongst various monsters and people who take it out on you.

The faun/satyr and Nico explained: the Tuemessian vixen and Laelaps had been turned to stone by Zeus to stop their endless and impossible pursuit. Nico suspected that Gaea brought them back to hunt them down, and that while the hound still owed the god for it's fate, the vixen had no qualms taking a son of Zeus – or Jupiter – down.

"So she – or it – was targeting you. Although I think she wouldn't have minded any of us," Hazel concluded. She was fazed and queasy from her first shadow-travelling experience trying to throw the hound and fox off her and Nico's trail.

Leo and Piper probably had the best luck of the day. They had managed to get into the city without being detected once. Leo found a bookstore and brought a German conversational book with money from that bank of his toolbelt, and lost the bet with Piper. Unfortunately, they did not have much luck with supplies.

Luckily, Hazel had sensed some metals deeper in the park, so after Leo reparked the ship, Jason pulled him and Piper along.

Following Hazel's coordinates, they trailed through the thin trees, Piper looking at the nature, Leo fiddling around as usual, Jason tense and looking out for he was not sure what.

"Over there," Piper pointed, breaking the silence.

"How do you know?" Leo asked, taking a few steps towards where Piper was pointing.

"Hazel said there should be an old tree beside a hedge," Piper stated. "That tree has to be centuries old. Look at the bark. See all the shades? It's peeled off and regrown many times."

Jason ventured a little further than Leo. Sure enough, there was the tree and the hedge. He continued further. It was only what was behind the tree that made him stop short. There was metal all right. Sheets of mortal metal with some scraps of celestial bronze and lumps of imperial gold, scattered across a large mound of dirt.

Leo leaned over to get a better look. "Not as much as to build everything in mind, but enough for the essentials. I've never seen so much natural metal in one place."

"I don't think it's natural," Piper commented. "More like someone's been starting a collection."

Leo shuddered. "Giant magpies. Eek."

"Stop it, Valdez!"

"Quiet!"

Jason tensed. He something rustled in the tree above them. All heads looked up. The lower branches swayed, then there was a soft thump and an old woman stepped out from behind the tree.

"Oh hello children," she said in a misty voice, reminding Jason vaguely of a kind grandmother gone bonkers. The old woman's frizzled hair was wrapped back in an old fashion bun and she wore thick large glasses and weird robes like a fortuneteller's. "I see you've come to pick up my collection."

"You…saw us coming?" Piper asked warily.

The old woman scooped a handful of dirt from the mound and sprinkled it over a small flat piece of imperial gold. "You're the speaker, the boy from New Orleans and the star of the play, are you not? You're needs are answered. I've collected it for you."

"Um, no? Yes? Maybe?" Leo replied, as if confused with the woman's referral to his and Jason's lineage rather than they themselves.

Jason risked picking up a sheet of what he suspected was plain mortal steel. How did this woman know about my mother? He sent a telepathy message to his reflection. Suddenly, the old woman was behind him, peering over his shoulder into the reflection. "So young yet so old, all of you," she mumbled. "Friends at present, enemies of old." Her eyes turned cloudy in the reflection. "What?" Jason asked, confused by her last line and the sudden change in her eyes. The old woman groaned, lunged out and gripped the steel and spoke in a far away voice:

_"Magic boat of the uncursed_

_and the fallen discover a truth for the worse_

_while the last hero fails…"_

The old woman groaned again and stumbled backwards, gripping the tree for support. Then, she stood up and blinked, as if fine again. "Did something happen?" she asked, staring at their shocked faces.

Jason still had the steel sheet that he yanked from her after she started going crazy. "Who are you?" he asked, more afraid than wary of the woman now.

"I am s – Cassandra, of course," she said, coughing on the word before her name. "She picked a dead leaf off the ground and crushed it, scattering the pieces into the mound again. She peered in and let out a small 'ooh dear'. "Hurry, collect your needs, time is running out. The hero closes in soon."

Leo pulled a sack out of his belt and he and Piper started shoving the metal pieces inside. Jason was still clinging on to the woman's words. "Who? What hero? Who – what do we close in on?"

"Be fast," the woman called over his shoulder to Leo and Piper as they stuffed the sack down Leo's toolbelt. "Oh, and before you go, is Apollo still angry?"

"Who? What? Why is he angry?" Jason sputtered, still trying to wrap his mind around the whole thing.

"I must apologise. But it has been so long…" she muttered to herself, suddenly completely unaware of their presence. Jason motioned urgently for them to leave and the trio quickly backed away into the woods.

"Was that a prophecy? She sounded like she was saying one but it doesn't sound like a prophecy," Piper said, doubtful.

"Did she call my ship a _boat_?" Leo spouted, dramatically upset.

"I don't know," was Jason's only reply. "But it doesn't sound good."


	9. VIII: ANNABETH

Hello. Seeing as we will all be dead by tomorrow (according to the most imprecise speculation), I shall at least give you guys a chapter before we all supposedly die out. -hbMx

* * *

ANNABETH

"Annabeth! Annabeth, wake up!"

"Huh?" she groaned.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled, shaking her and sounding panicky. She let her head loll back and forth lazily, turning over. It could not have been more than three hours, why was Percy waking her up?

"Come – on – wake up! ANNABETH!"

The spider silk blanket slipped and Annabeth sat up abruptly in the gust of cold wind. Her head felt odd, as if it had been floating around and suddenly jerked into place.

Black spots bounced around in her vision, slowly expanding and merging together. She thought it was just her eyes adapting, until it hit her that it meant Tartarus was getting darker. It was far more colder than before she dozed off. A strong, icy gale was blowing…no… This wasn't wind of any sorts. The air was moving; it was being sucked out of the place to somewhere beyond the rock garden (which was now completely invisible in the dark).

Percy's hand closed in around hers. "It's the only way." Annabeth wondered if he was referring to the fact that it was their only arrow to the doors or that if they didn't move all the air would be sucked out of the place.

He nudged Arachne's silk bundle gingerly with his toe. "I don't think we should have any contact with this. It's like some…death draught." He shuddered and gave it a kick. Surprisingly, it rolled a few feet and disappeared into the dark depths before them.

Silently, the two of them followed the trail left behind. Percy walked into a rock formation almost immediately and pulled Annabeth along with him as he slumped over. She felt herself stumbling over something soft, and Percy leapt up as if it electrocuted him. "Don't touch it! It's here!" He gave it another kick. It rolled a few degrees off to the left and they followed.

Suddenly, Annabeth realised that her mind had been surprisingly blank since they entered Tartarus. Under normal circumstances (if you considered falling into a deep dark pit of death with your obtuse boyfriend normal), she would have been analyzing everything around them every single second. She would have probably used Daedalus' laptop for light, and chances were she would have formulated a plan of sorts.

Thing was, she could not think of any plan at all. Not even the most absurd idea. What was she planning again? Her thoughts were messed up, as if her brain was doing backflips and complicated gymnastic somersaults.

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we doing?" It felt stupid to ask.

"Following the thread left behind," he replied. Did he shrug?

"It knows where it's going?" she questioned, which sounded like the first intelligent thought that crossed her mind since…

"We're going to Tartarus and we have no idea where we're going so the thread shows us where we walked, I guess." He answered, missing the mass of silk and jabbing his toe against another rock.

Annabeth opened her mouth to ask more. So was the thread marking their path or showing them to path they had to take? How would they know – even see – when they got there? What was – But then Percy lunged forward and pulled her over…

* * *

because the apocalypse had begun! DUN DUN DUN... hahaha just kidding. I don't think we will die just yet. So hopefully I'll be able to finish this within the course of my life


	10. IX: ANNABETH

hello. i'm am pleased (not) to tell you guys that school has reopened for me. yay. I'm also happy (pssh) to tell you that where i live the society is very academically competitive, which means that i may as well be working when i go to school. plus, we're expected to have co-curricular activities and electives so in other words, i am proudly a pro-mugger student. Unfortunately, that means less time to write. it's only week 3 and i have 2 projects, one essay, and i'm already behind on my homework. so please bear with me and blame the edu ministry.

`hbMx

* * *

Voices. Familiar voices. Whispering. Camp Half-Blood.

No, it was impossible. Was she not in Tartarus? Annabeth opened her eyes and confirmed the dark mass around her.

"We should have expected them, after her brother came around."

"But Annabeth would have known better."

"Quiet! The Athenian awakes."

Annabeth had jerked up at the mention of her name and spun her head around. Nothing, except that the blackness was now so dark that she could barely see three feet in front of her. The voices that had spoken had now hushed.

Annabeth straightened up more and felt a sharp pain to the left of her stomach. Squinting at herself in the darkness, she realized she was covered in minor cuts and a gash in the left where some nectar had been dabbed in. She suddenly swiveled around again – backpack, laptop, supplies still there.

She could sense Percy crumpled beside her, and leaned over to inspect him. There was a gash similar to hers down his right arm as well as tiny cuts here and there. With a jerk, it dawned on her that Percy's blessing/curse of Achilles should have prevented this. Did Tartarus cancel out this sort of power?

Her fingers dropped down to the cut and she felt his whole arm tense. Had he been awake all this while? Perhaps he heard what those voices had said, and possibly figured out why they reminded her so much about Camp Half-Blood.

"You won't like it," he told her softly.

Oh Gods, she'd voiced (no pun intended) her thoughts out loud.

"I want to know," she insisted.

Percy shook his head sadly. "You don't. Trust me."

Annabeth's head – for once since entering Tartarus – was swimming with questions. 'Her brother' – were they referring to Bianca di Angelo, Nico's late sister? Ico had been, after all, exploring the Underworld in hopes of finding the Doors of Death.

And they knew who she was, which bugged her the most. Apart from the fact that Percy was so distant about what the voices had said and appeared somewhat shaken and apprehensive.

"You have no idea," Percy added.

* * *

okay, it's not completed yet, but i figured you people have been waiting too long for an update so this is what i have for now.


	11. IX: ANNABETH continued

hey guys, so this is the continued chapter from previously...  
and why are the words in grey? Sorry if this A/N appears grey because it looks grey as i edit the doc

* * *

_"I want to know," Annabeth insisted insisted._

_Percy shook his head sadly. "You don't. Trust me."_

_Annabeth's head – for once since entering Tartarus – was swimming with questions. 'Her brother' – were they referring to Bianca di Angelo, Nico's late sister? Nico had been, after all, exploring the Underworld in hopes of finding the Doors of Death._

_And they knew who she was, which bugged her the most. Apart from the fact that Percy was so distant about what the voices had said and appeared somewhat shaken and apprehensive._

_"You have no idea," Percy added._

* * *

ANNABETH (contd)

At first Annabeth decided Percy didn't want to scare her any further than Tartarus did, and honestly she didn't want to take any more of this. Her ankle was almost fully recovered (she had been taking miniscule rations of ambrosia, but mostly it was natural), and usually when she recovered from injuries she would feel invigorated, ready to take on anything. But she had doubts about Tartarus. She was already suspicious about what had happened after they tumbled over the void. Percy supposedly was unconscious too, but if he knew anything he was obviously shaken and would not mention it.

But after three minutes (hey, that was a record for her. Athenians don't give up information easily), she couldn't put up with it. "I _need_ to know," she pleaded.

Percy stopped abruptly, looked around warily then looked straight at Annabeth. He frowned, his eyes calculating, as if weighing the odds of her reaction, whatever it would be. It was rather scary; Annabeth had never seen Percy think so hard before, he was usually reckless and made too-quick decisions. And the shadows of Tartarus were not helping.

Finally he sighed, probably figuring that if he shut up she would badger him forever. "I won't – can't tell you everything," he told her slowly, as if just thinking about it was torture. "But, I suppose you should know the essentials…"

His voice trailed off for a moment, then he grimaced slightly at the thought of something. Annabeth snapped her fingers sharply in front of him. "So – essentials?"

"Oh, yeah right," he mumbled, still a bit distracted. Nevertheless he explained to her. About the shutting off of Olympus extending to Hades as well, but Hades figured out what was happening fast enough to give Charon and the Furies secret orders. Trustable spirits (mostly from Elysium, who used to be heroes) had be roped in to keep an eye on other spirits who might try to escape from the Underworld – through Tartarus, naturally.

"It is different for dead souls, because, well, they're dead, I guess. They belong in the Underworld, just not so deep under," Percy explained.

Annabeth was bursting to ask him how he found out all this. From the ghost voices she had overheard? Who were they? The spirits told to prevent escapes from the Underworld, she guessed. But something told her it would just make Percy shut up again, so instead she said, "Then was there anything as to how we're going to find the Doors of Death?"

When Percy smirked, Annabeth thought he had gone bonkers, maybe Tartarus got to his head or something, but he simply chuckled and said, "That's supposed to be your bit, Wise Girl."

She stared at him in disbelief. Percy push work to anybody? Maybe he really was going crazy. Annabeth thought, should she slap him? Douse him with water? Ha, as if she had any.

"Why? Tartarus reducing your 'wiseness'?" Percy joked. Oh. So he was being sarcastic. As usual. She should have known.

"Well, okay, I'll give you a hint, but first – second time I stump Annabeth Chase! Twice in a day – two days, who cares?" He did a bit of victory dance until Annabeth kicked him in the shins.

"Ow! Fine – you know the answer. It's your advice, the one you always tell others, although implicitly. The ironic one."

"Follow the monsters," Annabeth understood. She knew she hit the answer because Percy became grim again.

"Yeah, follow the monsters," he said. "The closer we get to the Doors, the more monsters there will be, because they're just dying to get out and kill more demigods."

"And we'll start seeing spirits too – just more, um, human, living, I presume?" Annabeth asked.

Percy nodded gravely, although his eyes were no longer fixed on her. Instead, he looked into the darkness behind her and replied, "Right. So turn around, because we've found some monsters."

* * *

so phew, i've finished this part. hopefully i can get the next chapter out by end feb!

-hbMx


	12. X: ANNABETH

GUYS I'M NOT DEAD don't worry. Here's the new chapter (:

* * *

Annabeth whirled around as soon as the creatures swooped down on her, clawing at her hair with their scaly talons. Her first impression: psycho demon harpies (yeah, she sounded like Percy, didn't she?). Then she realized that harpies usually had six talons instead of eight. One harpy tried to snap at her ear and she noticed weirder details.

Normal harpies usually had normal bird bodies, but these ones had the bodies of steroid hawks. They had a sharp face with protruding, pointed upper lips, similar to that of birds of prey, and their hair was slicked back like the facial feathers of eagles.

Percy slashed at one and asked, "Do harpies wear make-up?"

"What?" Annabeth screamed at him in disbelief. Really, you're fighting for your life and you wonder if the harpies used make-up to look like crazy hawks? New record for Seaweed Brain.

"Check out their eyes," Percy replied. Annabeth followed. Thick black mascara outlined the harpies' eyes, curving up at the far corners to make their eyes look sharper and their stares more intense. They also had dark eye shadow all over, reminding Annabeth of eye bags, lack of sleep, and –

"Gothic pandas," Percy muttered. "With hawk eyes and eagle heads. On a harpy. Interesting package, I must say." He slammed the flat of his sword into one harpy, sending it crashing into another. The two demon women screeched at each other and started fighting amongst themselves.

Annabeth impaled another against the wall with her dagger. The harpy dissolved into a blackish substance that reminded Annabeth magnesium strips fizzing in acid – one of her favourite old school science projects. The blackish substance twisted and floated off, but didn't scatter like ashes in the wind, as monsters usually do when their essence was sent to Tartarus. Then Annabeth remembered – they already were in Tartarus. So technically, she couldn't permanently destroy any monster here.

Percy seemed to have noticed this too and it appeared to get on his nerves. One harpy reformed behind him and clawed at his back. He swung Riptide around in agitation, almost ripping his arm off, but beheading the harpy cleanly.

"Just get rid of them as fast as possible and let's get out of here!" Annabeth yelled over the mad screeching. She didn't sound like herself at all. Usually she said things confidently, with conviction (whether she was that way inside or not), but now it was desperation.

Apparently the harpies sensed it too, because the largest one with the thickest make-up threw her head back and cawed maliciously. If she did not know better, Annabeth might have thought the harpy was actually laughing.

The harpy let out another high pitch cackle, which suited a broken microphone better. The others screeched in agreement, as if mocking Annabeth's statement

"Excuse me?" Annabeth's eyes flashed. No creature questioned her plans.

The largest harpy flapped and continued making broken, high-pitched sounds like it was high, keeping out of reach of Annabeth's knife. Percy must have been irritated by her too, because he suddenly appeared behind Annabeth, taking the harpy by surprise with the length of his sword.

Silence. For a moment all the mascara-ed eyes were turned on Percy, who looked around and figured he must have taken down the leader. Then all the harpies swooped down on him at lightning speed.

Annabeth screamed and launched herself at the harpies, trying to get them off Percy in vain. The harpies had latched themselves to him by all means possible and refused to let go, clawing at him and flapping their wings, stuffing Annabeth's face with feathers.

The walls of Tartarus resonated around them, sending the harpies into a frenzy. Wind blew through and Gaea's cold voice whispered in Annabeth's mind.

_No one leaves Tartarus except by my command…_

The walls around them shifted and started to close in above them.

_And even if you reach the doors you can only shut yourself in…_

The ground trembled, threatening to throw Annabeth off balance.

_And your friends will see to that too, if they want to succeed…_

The earth crumbled beneath her feet, sending her and Percy (still fighting off the harpies) tumbling once again into the void.

Fortunately, the falling rocks knocked out all the harpies along the way, which left Percy covered in cuts, scratches and some smears of mascara, which Coach Hedge would demand a long explanation about once they got out of Tartarus.

_If _they got out.

What Gaea had just said had fuelled Annabeth's fears more than she'd like to admit. The Doors of Death had been bothering her a lot. Being two-way, someone would have to close it from inside in order to shut it completely. In other words, there was a problem of having to leave someone behind. Annabeth wondered if the other demigods aboard the Argo II had figured this out. She hoped Leo had, so they could find a way around. She did not want anyone to get left behind.

But what she was most afraid of was that when the time came, Percy – of all people – would insist on staying behind. Athena herself had said it. _To save a friend you would sacrifice the world_.

And Annabeth couldn't afford to let him go again.

"Hey, it's leaking here." Percy's voice broke her chain of thoughts. From the glow of his sword, she could see him standing a few feet away from her, running his hand over the surface of a wall. He looked up. "It's dripping…" He held out his hand as Annabeth approached and she took it.

She almost drew back when her hand came into contact with his because it was cold – and wet. Water. She had not realized how dry her throat was. If Tartarus had been a desert she'd have died from heat stroke long ago. Percy pulled her closer, and she felt the steady drip coming from somewhere above.

"There's a series of pipes somewhere above us. Really high up. Too high for me to determine," Percy explained. _Or maybe we're too far down_, Annabeth thought darkly. "Is it clean?" She asked.

"Fresh," Percy answered. "It's almost like spring water. Do you think we're under a volcano? There are quite a few in the Underworld."

Annabeth did not want to know how Percy knew that much about the Underworld, but his idea made sense. Clean water, volcanoes, springs – it all made sense. But the pipes…

Annabeth remembered their visit to Hades' place when they were twelve. She thought about how it was modeled after Olympus, and she remembered the fountain in the atrium – one of the first structures that survived the Titan War.

"We're under Hades' palace," she told Percy. "The atrium, to be exact. He should have a fountain there, like Olympus does. I'm guessing the pipes direst water from one of the springs near those volcanoes you mentioned."

Annabeth's head was whirring, calculating their position under the palace and in Tartarus. If only she had a clue or a hint in the direction to the Doors of Death, she would be certain of how to navigate from where they were.

* * *

Note: the appearance of the harpies here are purely based on my imagination and i have no say as to whether harpies are really like that.


	13. XI: JASON

hey guys! i've been reviewing the progress of this story and realised some loopholes, so i'm trying to fill them up with this chapter here, as well develop Nico, Hazel and Frank. Nevertheless, i don't own any of the characters, except maybe this particular portrayal of Cassandra /: Once again, thanks for your patience while waiting for me to update! and thanks for your reviews! I'm glad you think my story is good so far. There is some serious competition out there too though (: but thanks anyway! I won't fail you all -hbMx

* * *

JASON

"That's the most upbeat prophecy I've heard," Frank commented.

The six demigods plus one satyr sat around the table in the mess hall. Jason, Piper and Leo had just finished telling them about their strange encounter with the Cassandra woman.

Jason had to agree with Frank. _Uncursed_. That was pretty nice to hear from someone speaking with Oracle voice. _Discover_ _a_ _truth_. The last time good things were said so explicitly in a prophecy, as far as Jason could remember, was never.

Hazel shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I couldn't agree more," she assured Frank, "but the last line? _The last hero fails_. Who is this 'last hero'?"

"And what does 'last' refer to?" Nico added. He looked unsure too. Between him and Hazel, Jason figured they did not want any more falls into certain dark pits.

"Maybe the hero turned bad and fails to accomplish his evil plans," Leo said. Leave it to him to be optimistic. "Besides," Leo rambled on, "Boats are good. Awesome, in fact. I could take a leaf outta the design for a magic boat. My Sphere Schedule is rather tight. Nice magic could speed it up. And the boat could restore the statue for us."

"It's very hypothetical," Jason said, "But it could work." He gave some time to let it sink in.

"Actually, the possibility is higher than it seems," Frank evaluated. "Romans can't cross the Mare Nostrum and they don't like sea travel so I don't see _them_ sailing anywhere near us for now, so the ship should be on our side. Except that we don't know where it's heading."

For the first time, the circumstances seemed to favour them. The feeling was new and still unnatural. Jason would normally say things were too easy, being objective, but Frank had reasoned well. Jason suddenly realized the big and seemingly naïve guy across the table was a good tactician, being a child of Mars, and dangerous person to battle.

"There's another thing," Nico spoke up. "Are we right about bringing the statue back to camp? I had a dream last night, it's fuzzy, but the point was clear: the other demigods might not take the statue the same way we did. Especially Annabeth's siblings." He twisted nervously in his seat. "They won't be too friendly if the thieves so happen to show up after the truth has been unveiled."

Whatever the case was, Jason was sure the Argo II was definitely not the uncursed like the other boat mentioned in the prophecy. Not only did they have the fate of the world resting on their shoulders, since they'd left Rome, something had been stirring awkwardly in Jason's gut, that they had been making wrong and rash decisions. He got the feeling Nico was starting to realize this too, now that major loopholes were starting to show. He felt like Cabin 9 and the curse Leo had mentioned.

"With Olympus closed, we definitely can't simply return the statue to Athena and appease her," Frank ruled out.

"I'm also wondering how long Annabeth and Percy can hold on in Tartarus," Piper said.

"Well, we won't reach France until the day after tomorrow so we have a day to sort things out. Someone contact camp," Leo suggested, "If the boat, ship, is on our side, perhaps Chiron will know something about it. And for once, we _do_ have time."

"The problem now is space," Hazel added, "Because now we have to be in three places possibly at any point in time." Jason wished they would stop using such descriptions. His dyslexic head was aching from running through random quantum theories. "We have to stop Octavian from attacking your camp, work on the Argo and be in Greece…"

"How do you accomplish that without magic?" Jason asked, fishing for a link to the so-called prophecy. It sounded like a really obvious and stupid question, so he added "We still don't know who exactly this Cassandra is."

Nico furrowed his brow, as if he was thinking too hard. An unreadable expression shot across his sunken face for a split second, like a spasm. He shook his head very slightly, looking perplexed. Had he thought of something? Jason knew that look. It was what he wore when he recalled the legend of the Athena Parthenos but didn't dare mention it to Annabeth. He felt guilty wanting to pull whatever Nico was thinking about from him, especially with what he had not told them about yet…

He glanced around to see if anyone had noticed that too. Piper caught his eye and raised her eyebrows. She mouthed at him, _I'll tell you later_. Maybe her Aphrodite abilities had picked up something. Piper could read people well, and her specialty was expressions and emotions.

They adjourned the meeting on that note. Nico was the first one out of the mess hall, like he needed time to think. Leo volunteered to contact Chiron the centaur and left with his new music player blasting the Teen Titans theme song (he couldn't be serious, then again he was Leo Valdez). Frank decided to stay in the mess hall and snack, so Jason and Piper convened in his room.

That was a bad idea. Jason figured his room was pathetic compared to what the others would have done to theirs. He hadn't given it a specific design solely because he didn't know what to do. He never had any special interest like reading or designing. He wasn't much of a collector, except for injuries. There wasn't much difference from the basics Leo had put in.

"I think Nico's definitely discovered a link," Piper said, snapping him out of his self-embarrassment.

"What link?" he asked dumbly. Thank gods he didn't have a freakishly smart girlfriend like Annabeth. Though Piper was still great in her own ways.

"Something connecting Cassandra, the "prophecy", the Parthenos and rescuing Percy and Annabeth," Piper answered for him. "I can't put my finger on it. His feelings and thoughts about it are all jumbled up. And there's more to his dream. He's worried about something or someone – that I am sure. That's why he's not sharing it yet."

"I can't force it out of him and I won't," Jason decided. "He's been through too much lately."

Piper nodded. "I don't think Tartarus bothered him as much as this though."

_It must be really bad then, _Jason thought, _and probably really important to scare him so much. He looks like he's never scared._

Piper looked at him questioningly. "Jason? You haven't had any dreams lately, have you?"

Dang, he'd gone too far close to it. He knew he couldn't have hidden it from someone like Piper for long. He had quickly stuffed it at the back of his mind, and had almost forgotten it completely, even after the encounter with Cassandra, until Nico had mentioned the word. His face must have given him away.

Now, it had resurfaced at the back of his mind, nagging to be brought forward.

* * *

oh, so i end at another cliffhanger. eesh. it's ironical, i promised myself i won't torture readers like Rick Riordan, but apparently i broke it. i broke my oath :O dun dun dun...


	14. XII: JASON

sup? so i'm back, after another month or so. bleh... assessment week is hard. and march hols are a big lie. hahas. so anyway, hope you like this chapter! it was one of the first ideas i had.

* * *

JASON

It was the night they left Rome. Jason had decided to hit the sack early because 1. it was a bad day, he was exhausted and disappointed and 2. Everyone felt the same way. He wanted to put it down to hallucination from tiredness, but then he realized you couldn't hallucinate in your sleep.

It was freaky from the start. Distorted and abnormal. Worse of all, it was longer consisted of many different scenes, like the dream tv station tried to cram too many shows into a limited time.

At the start, he found himself in a temple. An archer leaned casually on the altar. He looked over and stared straight into Jason's eyes. He grinned cockily at Jason and disappeared. The temple started spinning around Jason, and when it stopped, the archer was replaced by a woman draped in shawls, sitting in front of the altar. She appeared to be saying something. Jason willed his dream vision to move closer and he caught the words "magic dies to save the dead" before the scene shifted.

The next scene was disturbing, because he had to witness two people making out. The guy was the same archer from the temple, but he looked younger and had tossed his bow aside. He woman said something and he looked offended. "No one will believe you," he told her, and turned around, facing Jason again. He raised his eyebrows and grinned madly and Jason's vision went swimming.

The third scene was the scariest. A dark figure – almost a shadow – loomed over a girl in a sundress. The girls screamed, and the room came crashing down, burying everything in darkness. Jason vaguely made out the voice of a woman calling out for her son's safety, although from the sound of it she did not sound very sane. For some reason the image of a pretty blonde woman with glowing green eyes and the curly-haired guy embedded itself in his mind. The archer was there too, watching the woman. Jason finally got a good look at him. He looked even younger, with an outdoorsy build, goofy face and messy sandy hair that made him look like he had just returned from a hunting trip. He winked, and the scene shifted.

Rachel Dare the Oracle standing in front of the Big House at Camp Half-Blood. The goofy dude stood in the attic window beside a moving mummy, strumming on an instrument which constantly shifted between a ukulele and lyre. The dude turned around and grinned crazily at Jason, and a bright light glared behind him, engulfing everything, including Rachel and the mummy. Jason's vision went red, slowly fading to black, like the sun was setting.

In the darkness, he heard voices. Soft, but not whispers. Ella the harpy mumbled something about chess and the sibylline books. An old man's hoarse voice said "I chose to go against fate." Then a voice that he now recognized as Cassandra's said "he will return…"

Then the most normal yet weirdest part of his dream came. His dream vision lit up on a small pantry he didn't realize. There was a small window on one wall revealing the forest at Camp Half Blood, so Jason figured he was in one of the cabins. He was about to assume the Demeter kids made themselves cereal snacks when Lou Ellen, the Hecate head counselor walked in holding a green box. She placed it on the counter and transferred its contents (two dozen grenade-like objects) into small basin. She filled the basin with water and placed it the fridge, which was filled with many other dangerous arsenal.

Then came the weird part. Lou sat down to make herself a drink, adding funny ingredients such as a brown powder and a milky, honey-golden substance. Suddenly, she whipped her head around and stared straight at Jason, as if she could see him watching her. She frowned, then turned and looked over her other shoulder, as if someone else was also having the same dream, and she could sense it. Then the scene faded out and Jason heard Cassandra's voice whisper "a lost legacy" before he woke up.

"Apollo," Piper mumbled. "Archery, the lyre, music, they represent Apollo."

"A ukulele?" Jason asked, confused.

Piper shrugged. "Modernised version?"

"Why's he getting younger?"

"Why does Aphrodite magically change the color of the Cabin 10 bathroom tiles every week? Gods are gods," Piper replied. "No offense."

"Why Apollo though?" Jason wondered aloud.

"He's the god of prophecies too," Piper ventured, "Oracle, foresight," she made a face "Octavian's ancestor. You think Nico had the same dream? The last part anyway?"

Jason rubbed his temples. Thinking was hard work. "I don't know." He said. "It doesn't make sense."

* * *

yeah, so that was a pretty bad way to end the chapter, but i had nothing else for now. and jason and piper are really ooc here. i promise the next will be more contextualised!


	15. XIII: HAZEL

DI IMMORTALES I'M BACK. My mid years are finally gone. June holidays are up, which means faser writing (I hope. Because seriously, my school likes holiday homework. don't ask).

Fyi, this chapter is still not complete, but i've abandoned this place for so long I guess you guys deserve a story update, a little push further into the house of hades!

* * *

HAZEL

Pluto would probably come after her for saying this, but Hazel was sick of shadow travelling.

She was also sick of weird old women, dreams and prophecies.

The first one was easy. Shadow travelling made her want to throw up like the singer on the rockapella movie Coach Hedge was watching the other day. It was worse than going by boat or plane, because shadow travel brought her so close to…that place. She was afraid she might blackout again.

Then the old women. The Cassandra woman Jason, Leo and Piper encountered in the park reminded her of Gaea. Old grandmother with a pit of treasure, creepy. But nobody seemed to find it suspicious, especially Jason, and Hazel had learnt to trust Jason's judgement.

The dreams and prophecies part came together. Because the past few nights she had trouble falling asleep. Oddly enough, she was exactly having any dreams. It was only screaming and evil laughter, resonating in the darkness. Then she would wake up panicking about something along the lines of Percy and Annabeth. _An oath to keep with a final breath_. Hazel wondered if anyone else had noticed, but a lot of promises had been thrown around lately. Nico had promised to bring the remaining demigods to the House of Hades. Piper and Jason had been promising everyone that things would eventually get better, in a last resort to lift the morale. Leo promised to crank up some 'top-level weapons' to invade Epirus. Frank tried to assure her that he would find a way to break Gaea's defence. Even Coach Hedge the faun/satyr announced to everyone that he would bomb down numerous ranks of monsters. And Hazel was pretty sure Percy and Annabeth must have had some promises too.

A sudden brief feeling of weightlessness made Hazel's stomach flip, breaking her train of thought. They were taking off again.

The door creaked open and Piper stuck her head in. Hazel smiled inwardly. Piper was friendly and approachable, and understood Hazel well. But the daughter of Aphrodite was currently looking very grim. "Change of plans," she said. "We're going straight to Greece."

Hazel tried to ask why, but she felt the bile build up and shut her mouth before anything embarrassing happened. Piper's face was immediately replaced with a look of concern. "You feeling okay?" she asked. Hazel did not, or could not respond. Piper got the message. She disappeared with a quick "I'll be back", returning later with a glass of water and a paper bag.

"Leo and Frank are on a roll," Piper explained. "I've told them not to push it. We shouldn't be travelling at crazy speeds anymore."

Hazel wanted to laugh. She had guessed that Frank would jump at any opportunity to gain battle progress, spurred by the loss of Percy. Couple with Leo's ADHD, they would be driving into war at a thousand miles per hour, or as fast as Leo programmed the ship to go. Piper handed Hazel the paper bag, in case she still felt sick, then gently coaxed her to drink the water.

"Thanks," Hazel croaked, when she finally got over her motion sickness. Piper smiled. "No problem."

* * *

like I said, not complete, but I have the rest in mind already so it should be coming soon!

-hbMx


	16. XIII: HAZEL (full version)

sup! how's everyone feeling after reading the hoh sneak peek? this is the full hazel chapter i promised - we're going back to the main story

* * *

HAZEL

Pluto would probably come after her for saying this, but Hazel was sick of shadow travelling.

She was also sick of weird old women, dreams and prophecies.

The first one was easy. Shadow travelling made her want to throw up like the singer on the rockapella movie Coach Hedge was watching the other day. It was worse than going by boat or plane, because shadow travel brought her so close to…that place. She was afraid she might blackout again.

Then the old women. The Cassandra woman Jason, Leo and Piper encountered in the park reminded her of Gaea. Old grandmother with a pit of treasure, creepy. But nobody seemed to find it suspicious, especially Jason, and Hazel had learnt to trust Jason's judgement.

The dreams and prophecies part came together. Because the past few nights she had trouble falling asleep. Oddly enough, she was exactly having any dreams. It was only screaming and evil laughter, resonating in the darkness. Then she would wake up panicking about something along the lines of Percy and Annabeth. _An oath to keep with a final breath_. Hazel wondered if anyone else had noticed, but a lot of promises had been thrown around lately. Nico had promised to bring the remaining demigods to the House of Hades. Piper and Jason had been promising everyone that things would eventually get better, in a last resort to lift the morale. Leo promised to crank up some 'top-level weapons' to invade Epirus. Frank tried to assure her that he would find a way to break Gaea's defence. Even Coach Hedge the faun/satyr announced to everyone that he would bomb down numerous ranks of monsters. And Hazel was pretty sure Percy and Annabeth must have had some promises too.

A sudden brief feeling of weightlessness made Hazel's stomach flip, breaking her train of thought. They were taking off again.

The door creaked open and Piper stuck her head in. Hazel smiled inwardly. Piper was friendly and approachable, and understood Hazel well. But the daughter of Aphrodite was currently looking very grim. "Change of plans," she said. "We're going straight to Greece."

Hazel tried to ask why, but she felt the bile build up and shut her mouth before anything embarrassing happened. Piper's face was immediately replaced with a look of concern. "You feeling okay?" she asked. Hazel did not, or could not respond. Piper got the message. She disappeared with a quick "I'll be back", returning later with a glass of water and a paper bag.

"Leo and Frank are on a roll," Piper explained. "I've told them not to push it. We shouldn't be travelling at crazy speeds anymore."

Hazel wanted to laugh. She had guessed that Frank would jump at any opportunity to gain battle progress, spurred by the loss of Percy. Couple with Leo's ADHD, they would be driving into war at a thousand miles per hour, or as fast as Leo programmed the ship to go. Piper handed Hazel the paper bag, in case she still felt sick, then gently coaxed her to drink the water.

"Thanks," Hazel croaked, when she finally got over her motion sickness. Piper smiled. _No problem._

"What's happening?" Hazel asked, careful not to throw up. "Why are we heading to Greece early?"

Piper's face darkened. She bit her lip for a while before standing up. "I can't explain. You should see."

Up on deck, Leo was pulling levers, twisting knobs and pressing buttons on the control panel while Frank stood at the computerized control screen looking stuff up on Google Maps and Google Earth. Apparently a lot of stuff on Google could be found in Chinese. A shadow passed Hazel on the ground. Jason was adjusting the sails. The satyr Coach Hedge was running around securing any lose ropes at the base of the mast. Piper ran up to Nico, who was talking through the Iris Message rainbow communication thing (Hazel still didn't understand that) to a red-headed girl.

"I don't get it," the girl said, looking anxious and confused. "Annabeth and Percy fated to go…there, and I didn't see it – or sense it coming. I've stopped having the occasional visions. When the quest was ordered it was like I had to pull tug-of-war for the prophecy." The redhead had paint in her hair. Her already very bright green eyes (not Percy sea-green, the brilliant emerald type) were shining with tears. She looked to be about the same age as Percy and Annabeth.

"It's as if there's something else channeling the spirit of Delphi," the girl continued, oblivious to Piper and Hazel's presence. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath, then leaned and whispered, "The sky is falling, Nico, that's the last thing I picked up from the Oracle. The sky is falling. I don't know what it means, but it has something to do with the Great Prophecy. That's the last I know."

Hazel was confused. What spirit? The sky was falling? That sounded like the Chicken Little story back in the old days. Hazel was guessing that this girl was a Greek demigod, from the way Piper and Nico appeared to understand her. She was not dressed in Piper and Leo's orange camp t-shirt though. Part-time camper?

"We'll figure it out, Rachel," Nico assured her, although Hazel was pretty sure he had about as much idea of what Rachel said as Hazel did. "You just try to focus on the spirit."

They cut the connection. Nico's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, as if the oddity of Rachel's statement was only just getting to him.

"Who was that?" Hazel asked.

Nico jumped and reached for his sword. Hazel would have been shish-kebab if Piper hadn't intervened.

"Whoa, careful, it's just us," she said, ducking the black blade. Maybe she had not intended to use her powers – Annabeth called it "charmspeak", the ability to command people by voice – but Nico blinked and stowed his sword.

"Oh, hey, it's you, sorry," he mumbled apologetically, although Piper was looking down as if she was the one to apologize.

"Who was that?" Hazel asked again.

"Rachel Dare. She's the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood," Nico replied. Hazel still did not understand any part of it.

"She gives us our prophecies when people are assigned quests," Piper explained, seeing Hazel's confused expression.

"Like Octavian," Hazel suggested, trying to find an idea she could understand.

Nico scrunched up his nose. "A nicer, better version of Octavian," he muttered, before adding, "But the Greeks get their prophecies through the ancient spirit the Oracle at Delphi, not the Sibylline books. And Rachel's mortal."

The gears in Hazel's brain clicked. Rachel relied on the spirit to get her prophecies, but the channel was blocked for some unknown reason. In other words, they had nothing to guide them, except the predicament of their friends. They were given not even the subtlest clue as to what to do or what to expect.

Somewhere over at the control board Leo hollered like a maniac. The ship lurched forward and this time it kept picking up speed. Hazel had to push her hair out of her face because the tailwind was making it fly all over the place.

"Leo! Ah seriously," Piper muttered. Using the railing to steady herself, she made her way over to the control board, prepared to yell Leo's head off.

"Why are we racing off to Greece all of a sudden?" Hazel yelled over the whistle of the wind rushing past her and the battle cries of the satyr. "How are we going so fast?"

"Bunch of stuff!" Nico yelled back. He had fallen backwards against the railing and was rubbing his elbow. "Percy's friend Grover could not dream connect or empathy link with him last night, a bunch of the campers are crossing the Atlantic as we speak, and I don't know!" Hazel assumed that he was answering all her questions at once.

Piper was suddenly beside her again. "Leo's got the sphere set in!" she yelled. "I don't know when that happened but our speed will double in the next five minutes!"

Nico swore something that was lost in all the noise. Like Hazel, he experienced motion sickness on air and sea as well, just not as easily as she did. She felt like her intestinal tract was re-aligning itself.

"I need – bathroom," Nico choked, and he ran below deck, dropping his sword.

"Me too," Hazel managed to say, before running after him.

* * *

i figured Nico will throw up as well, being a child of Hades and all, but probably less vulnerable. and sorry for jumping around from different parts of the story, i've been told it's confusing, but like i said, I've been tidying up the chapters, so the order of chapters her will be reconfigured sometime into the correct order.

-hbMx


	17. coverbase preview from ANNABETH

okay, i promised to finish the hazel chapter but House of Hades cover release happened and i couldn't stop myself from writing based on it, so this is a preview on what happenes based on the cover. Don't worry there won't be many spoilers.

* * *

ANNABETH

Her body protested, but Annabeth forced herself to move on. Her eyes stung with blood, ash and grime. Her skin was dry and her head ached with a numb, burning sensation. The puddle tugged at her ankles and she felt Percy's arm wrapped strongly around her waist, supporting her.

Everything in sight seemed to be swimming around. She could barely see where she was going. But she was certain of two things: Percy and the fact that the doors were right ahead.

The demonism bats swooped overhead, hissing at them but leaving them alone. Soft rattling echoed off the walls of the cave. Annabeth could hear faint scraping against the rocks all around them, but nothing came forth to attack.

"It's too easy."

Percy's voice was a breath rather than a whisper. Annabeth almost didn't catch it. She blinked a few time before it settled in: something was wrong. The place was teeming with monsters, but there was no imminent danger.

They pushed forward nonetheless.

As they got closer, Annabeth could see the door more clearly, chained down to the rocks and draped with cobwebs. It was a simple, wooden door, frail and shabby, like the type on old abandoned cottages. It was opened by just a crack. Light and shadows danced on the other side, making her eyelids droopy.

"Annabeth? Annabeth! Stay with me!"

Annabeth hadn't realized she had been nodding off until Percy shook her in their routine of save each other, which had risen to a frequency of every ten minutes (from about once every summer) in a month. The noises from all around were ringing louder in her ears. Light and shadows flickered through the slit between door and doorframe. Annabeth thought she heard someone calling on the other side, but her brain was going fuzzy and her senses haywire. What lay beyond the door was clouded by smoke, giving her a sense of foreboding when she looked at it.

The water at her ankles surged forward. "Let's go," Percy breathed.

Annabeth wrapped her mind around the feel of Percy holding her, the water that Percy had been channeling from pulling at her feet, egging her to move forward. She couldn't drive the noise out. The light and shadows were now rippling along the cave walls, swarming her vision.

Riptide glinted in Percy's hand, with the faintest sign of bronze now that they were so near to the living world. The sliver of color alerted the bats. Their hisses became sharper and higher pitched, with a hint of growling from the back of their throats. The scraping against the rocks sounded like an axe on the sharpener. The rattling became louder and clearer. Every step closer to the door, every step Riptide's blade grew brighter, every step the noise became more distinct, as if it was awaiting something and getting jumpy.

The dance of light and dark flickered along the walls and on the floor, reflecting off the water that pulled them forward. Annabeth blinked and counted her ragged breaths, attempting to zero it all out.

They started to make their way up the rocks. Annabeth felt the water recede, slowly flowing down hill. She knew Percy didn't have the energy to bring it against gravity, which felt ten times stronger in Tartarus. Her legs felt like densely packed molten metal. Her muscles were on fire and she could barely pick her feet off the ground. Instead, she was dragging them along.

The bats were screeching now, flapping their wings in some sort of hysteria. The scraping sound had turned to rock being crushed under a weight. The rattling was continuous and anxious. Annabeth was certain that there were voices on the other side of the door, but they weren't calling. They were screaming, yelling, crying for blood.

The sounds of battle.

They were out there.

Nico, Piper, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Jason, Hedge…all holding out on the other side.

Percy tensed. He could hear them too. Or they were both insane. Breathing hard, Annabeth pushed on. The top of the rocks seemed to mock her, like a peak that she could keep scaling but never reach. She hated it. She hated being out of reach. She hated Gaea. Her hated powered her. She kept climbing, with Percy next to her. Then she took footing of a loose rock and slipped, sending it tumbling down.

The cave was silent when it hit the ground with a _THUNK!_ that resonated all around them.

Under normal circumstances, the phrase "all hell broke loose" would have been suitable, but seeing as they were already in the deepest depths of hell, it didn't seem to have anymore meaning.

The bats dropped off their perch and started swooping down. Hybrid dracaenae with rattlesnake tails melted out of the darkness. A chimera bounded out from behind the rocks.

Percy shoved her towards the door. "Go!" he yelled, suddenly reclaiming his voice, "I'll hold them off!"

Annabeth wanted to argue. He knew she would not let him fend off so many creatures at once. But he looked her in the eye and she could see them clearly again. Sea green. For a moment she got caught in that towering wave churning and prepared to crash onto the shore, wiping out everything, and she knew nothing could stop him.

She turned and lunged for the door handle. She missed, falling face-flat against the rocks. Fortunately, she didn't slip downwards. The bats sensed her temporary moment of weakness and dove in on her, their claws out for the kill. Annabeth slapped one away and grabbed at another, clipping its wing. She slammed a third one against the rocks as she clambered back onto her feet, causing the remainders to back away. They continued to claw at her hair, but refrained from attacking directly. Annabeth staggered forward and slumped against the doorframe. Her hand somehow found the handle and mustering her remaining strength, she pulled the heavy wooden door wide to let herself through.

The bright light that was now so alien to her blinded her momentarily. Her hearing kicked in, registering the sounds of battle and eruption of cheers and shouting. She turned back to comfort her eyes.

"Percy!"

Percy had ensured none of the waiting monsters had made it out yet while slowly backing towards the door, but he had been scratched and badly wounded, blood dripping from the fresh gashes down onto the rocks. Annabeth could almost hear Gaea laughing every time he received a new wound. Percy cast a fleeting look over his shoulder, sliced through the closest dracaenae, then whipped around and sprinted towards her before the dragon woman could recover.

Annabeth held on to the doorframe and extended her free hand as far as she could go. Percy's fingers gripped hers tightly just as the chimera pounced on him, pulling him back into the void. Annabeth battled the monster to tug of war, refusing to let go of both Percy and the doorframe. Percy was slashing at the creature with his sword, but with a flick of the snake tail Riptide went clattering aside. Somewhere outside the door, a blood-curdling scream went up from the crowd – a sound only human – followed by lots of shouting and more screaming. Annabeth felt someone push through the doorframe next to her. She barely registered the grenade whistling past her head and slamming into the chimera until everything burst into black flames and she was pushed through the door with Percy into the realm of life.

* * *

DUN DUN DUN...

of course riptide will come back to Percy. but what do you think happened at the door with the smoke firebomb thing?


	18. coverbase preview continuation

Sup guys! I've been trying to figure out what mountain range our dear Uncle Rick is talking about in the Son of Sobek sneak peek so i can take note of it as I write this story, so meanwhile, here's the continuation of the cover page special! We'll go back to Hazel's POV soon!

* * *

ANNABETH

Somewhere at the back of her mind Annabeth slipped into a subconscious. Her head was throbbing. Her body core temperature was low, although she felt like she was burning up in some incubator.

Was this death? Annabeth tried to move. Her muscles were stiff and sore. She felt the hot blankets shift across her body and it occurred to her that it was nearly a month since she felt such a luxury. A soft bed to sleep in. Definitely not death. She remembered the recording studio in LA when she was twelve. Her first visit to the mortal world. The souls there did not have beds to sleep in. So where was she?

She cracked her eyes open and recoiled almost immediately. It was so bright, almost like staring straight into the afternoon sun. Perhaps she had not yet gotten out of night vision mode that Tartarus forced her into.

Annabeth opened her eyes while covering them with her hand. Slowly, she let slits of light slip through her fingers. Finally, she opened her fingers all the way, shifting her hand so that it shaded her blinking eyes.

This was not the Argo II. The walls here were made of speckled birch or maple wood. Annabeth vaguely recalled being carried up a wooden ship before passing out. The Argo II was bigger and was made with Celestial bronze, the interior walls lined with golden-brown teakwood.

Percy stirred slightly next to her and Annabeth realized that what had felt like a bed was actually a large sleeping bag spread out on the floor. After having slept on the rocky ground in hell, pretty much everything else felt comfortable to lie on. She scooted closer to Percy, at the same time shaking her head at what was probably Leo's sick joke to lighten the mood. Then at the same time, a nearby shelf was empty, suggesting that all the sleeping bags were taken by the other injured demigods spanning the floor area. Annabeth noticed Frank in a corner with his leg in a cast. Beside him, Nico was snoozing lightly with burns on his face and bandages all over his limbs.

* * *

and I can't write more because it will just give away the plot. Yup, Nico's beaten up real bad. He's been injured since the first page on Uncle Rick's version of HOH.

-hbMx


	19. AN on confusion

Hi guys

**If you've been following the story before today then you should read this to clear confusion**

If this is your first time reading this fanfic then you can ignore this

Sorry for all the confusion about the chapters cos i've jumped forward in the plot then went back, so I've reconfigured the chapters and here's how it works:

**For the story so far**, it's Chapters 1-16 (the order should be Annabeth, Jason, Hazel, Hazel continued, Annabeth, Annabeth, Frank, Jason, Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth continued, Annabeth, Jason, Jason, Hazel, Hazel full version)

Chapters 17 and 18 are the coverbase previews since the release of the HOH cover. **They do not chronologically follow the other chapters**. Not until I have developed the story until that point.

Once again, apologies for confusing you all, and thanks for supporting Together.

-hbMx


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